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Topic Review (Newest First)

11-30-2013 09:09 PM

blink

I've been remiss and not keeping this log updated, so remiss in fact that this tank has been shut down for a couple months.

It was fun but my fish never really thrived in here, the plants did ok but my fish kept fading away one by one, I think because there was just too much flow and no where to hide but who knows.

The cube has been replaced by a Fluval Studio 600 which I suppose I should make a thread for but I've been lazy as hell.
Thanks for looking.

01-29-2013 06:15 AM

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Updating again, you'd think I'm trying to be consistent.

CO2 has been running 24/7 at about 1 bubble per second and just showing green on the drop checker and I am impressed.

My dwarf sagitteria has shown visible growth and my pogostemon helferi has taken off!! A couple of sprigs have literally tripled in size. The swords and vals all look healthier and the HM turned into a huge bush which I've now chopped back to about 3" tall.
My java fern is even growing happily and looks great.

I'm kicking myself for having taken so long to get the CO2 running but now, even with my comparatively low light I can tell I'm going to have to do a lot of trimming and gardening, hooray!

The fish all seem happier with the removal of the furcata rainbows but I found an oto which had jumped. There is a 1"x1/4" gap at the back of the tank where the lid isn't quite snug and he somehow made it out of there to become fish jerky.

The new shamu log is in and still trying to float but I've got it wedged under the pump outflow tubes so hopefully it finishes waterlogging and sinks. Fingers crossed, I really don't want to have to screw it to a tile and tear the entire tank up just to get it placed.

01-23-2013 06:26 AM

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Another update, no one cares!

First, my sick fish seem to have recovered after a couple treatments of Seachem Metroplex, hooray. They're both eating like pigs and look to be gaining weight.

On the bad side my Furcatas were getting aggressive and have been taking runs at everyone so they've been rehomed, but unfortunately not before they killed one of my nicer CPDs... I'm about 95% sure it was the bigger furcata who wouldn't stop flaring up at all the other fish, there was a furcata sized bite taken out of his anal region and by the time I found him he was alternating between swimming funny and floating, his gills were all bloody and his butthole region was missing, pretty reminiscent of jaws. After a short rage session we gave him some clove oil and Everclear, a fish wake if ever I've heard of one.

Now for the good stuff, I've finally gotten off my duff and gathered up all my pressurized co2 bits and put it all together. No leaks first try, everything is working as it should and I've got fish flavored soda pop! The bubbles look kind of terrible but I will move the diffuser into the rear sump section once I know everything is stable and working as it should. I do want to get a solenoid, but that can wait since I've put myself on a bit of a budget and I wanted to get running NOW.

I removed the bigger chunks of driftwood on the right, in behind the HM and trimmed the hell out of the HM but now I'm getting some black bush algae on my dwarf sag so hopefully the gassy stuff will help fight it off because I'm getting really tired of dealing with this fuzzy black poop.

The swords are throwing runners like mad and even the spiral val seems to be making a comeback which is pretty gratifying... I'd almost pulled it out but at the last second I thought I'd let it keep trying a bit longer.

I haven't got any photos because there is a surprise coming as soon as it gets waterlogged enough to stop trying to imitate shamu.

01-13-2013 09:59 AM

blink

Update time,
Things are growing slowly but steadily, the HM is enormous and will need trimming tomorrow.
Dwarf sag is good, I've added some downoi in the very front of it, it seems to be growing, at least it didn't melt yet. Swords are coming back but the spiral val just doesn't seem like it's going to come back, it's all yellow and sickly so I think tomorrow it'll get yanked out.

The fish are all good, except two, one of my CPDs and one of my gold ring danios are both getting skinny and fading away. They seem to eat, but just keep getting thinner which to me says internal parasites so off to the LFS for some meds tomorrow. Any suggestions for brand?

12-30-2012 01:48 AM

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I promised some photos and now is the time!

Obligatory full tank shots
Front
Point and shoot version

dslr version

Side, feel free to ignore the splashes and equipment, I forgot to remove them

Now for some detail shots

My Hemianthus micranthemoides or glomeratus if you'd prefer
It's not getting enough light but it's still growing well and I'm not ready for CO2 yet, so I've not cranked up the light

My dwarf sagittaria field of dreams... all of these plants melted badly and I feared I would lose most of them but with only a couple exceptions they all came back and several are desperately needing a trim which is gratifying

And now for some livestock
Here are my new rainbows, Melanotaenia maccullochi
They are still a little shy and not really displaying any color but I'm sure that will change as they get used to their new home

Here is the male by himself

And a terribly reflective pair shot

Here are my Blue eye forktails, Pseudomugil furcatus

And to close out this journal entry, a few cheesecake shots of the other inhabitants

12-29-2012 06:02 AM

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Water tests out ok and the new fish are in and settling down nicely.
I tried to snap a couple photos but they were being a bit twitchy for point n shoot or cellphone photos so I guess I'll try the dslr tomorrow.

Fingers crossed that I'm over that particular water quality hump!
Dry fert regime starts tomorrow morning, just in time for a water change on Sunday night.

12-28-2012 08:04 PM

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Time for another boring text update.

I lost a white cloud about 10 days ago but she had had a swollen/fat stomach for a while. She seemed healthy just huge so I don't know if that's an issue but (knock on wood) no fatalities since. Test readings seem stable since then although nitrates are still a bit high to my mind the local fish people I've asked think its fine so I'm not obsessing.

I picked up 4 juvenile CPD a couple days ago and they seem fine which is good because my rainbows are arriving tonight.
I've got a pair of McCulloch's dwarfs, Skull Creek locality (insert Latin here when i get home) from a semi local breeder so I guess I'll have to post up some photos.

Plant wise things are sort of going, my HM is growing and seems happy, the dwarf sagittaria has bounced back and I've noticed some new growth but my swords and spiral als aren't happy. Pretty sure its a nutrient deficiency but haven't nailed down what... its a good excuse to start using ny dry ferts I suppose.

12-20-2012 01:55 AM

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Follow up to this, I found out that one of my LFS gives out poor advice, they told me that 250ml of Seachem Matrix would be "plenty of biomedia" for this tank. Seachem suggests more, I'll need another liter to meet their recommendations and of course everyone in town is sold out of Matrix so I've added some Fluval Biomax or whatever their white rings are called.
I'm going to steal some cycled media from a friend's tank too, hopefully I can head this disaster off at the pass before I lose any more fish.

12-19-2012 04:51 PM

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Sorry about the lack of updates, I've just been busy as heck with work lately.
The tank is up and running but I'm getting nitrate/nitrite spikes and have lost a bunch of fish... fairly frustrated right now but just trying to contain the fallout.

I'm not entirely sure what happened as I used mulm and sponge filter squeezings from my old tank and the biomedia from my old filter and ran it for about a week. Things seemed ok and stable so I added my fish and for the first few days things were fine then I noticed I lost 3 endlers, 2 white clouds and 3-4 CPD overnight.
Tested the water and it was awful, high in nitrites and nitrates but zero ammonia. This happened in about 38 hours after my last test. I did a 50% water change that night and a succession of 25% water changes over the next couple days and it seemed like things were stable.
Then after a couple days I lost another fish per day for 3 days. Nitrates were high, nitrites and ammonia test ok. Been doing water changes every day or two.

It appears the tank decided to fool me and have a cycle after staying stable for as long as it did but I think part of my losses were due to stress because the flow was too high been though I'd already swapped to a lower flow pump, so I've swapped it out for a still lower flow pump.

I'm really annoyed with myself and I'm not sure how many more fish I'm going to lose before this settles out and stabilizes.
I'm also annoyed at one of the local LFS, they put their demo 40 gallon Osaka on clearance a couple days before I got this tank finished, if I'd known I'd have gotten it for sure, I'm still debating it lol... talk about a tank hoarder.

12-19-2012 10:15 AM

synaethetic

That 2nd piece is so perfect for the dimensions of your tank. Simply trimming the excess on the extruding branches so that the whole piece fits nice and snug within the cube.

Yes, it came with the dual hose, I'm just not sure I want to point one end of it into the corner. I'm really not sure how I'm going to aim it, I'm not very good at visualizing stuff like that so I'll have to try it while it's running empty, maybe put something into the water that will be easy to see how it all blasts around.

On another note, Ecopoxy is essentially dry to the touch. Probably not cured yet, but should be done by tomorrow so the sides, top and interior will get finished then it's on to other things.
Was hoping to be up and running by Monday, but it's not an emergency so no point in rushing things. Haste = waste n all that.

Point it at the sides and it'll circulate to the corners when the flow is redirected by the sides.

11-19-2012 04:39 PM

blink

Thanks for the kind words.

Green flash, you can Google "ecoxotic 25 gallon cube", should take you to their product page or solana 25 gallon should take you to marine depots page. Same tank as far as I can figure.

11-19-2012 06:55 AM

Green_Flash

Hi, it is coming along nicely

I totally feel you with finding a nice stand for a good price. It is hard to even find an attractive stand let alone a quality one. and custom cabinet makers all want like $800+ for a good one off piece.

I am having trouble finding info on this 18 inch ecoxotic tank, all I see listed on their website is the pico?

11-19-2012 06:54 AM

Sd760

Awesome tank. Can't wait to see the finish product

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